Curbside Stories by Utpal

About the author:

Rupantar has been the race director of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team since 1985, having been asked by Sri Chinmoy to serve in that capacity. As well as working on the big races the US Marathon Team organise each year - the 3100 Mile Race and the Six and 10 Day Race - he also spends a considerable amount of time archiving the Marathon Team's 40 year history on this website.

Read about Dipali Cunningham: “It’s not easy to break a world record.” Once long ago Sri Chinmoy told this to Dipali Cunningham as she set one of her many world bests. It is also not easy to run 446 miles over 6 days as she did here in Flushing Meadow today.

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The Passing of a Friend: ultrarunning legend Al Howie

On June 21, 2016, the ultrarunning community lost a great runner and beloved friend, Al Howie. Al competed in many of our ultra races, and at his prime he was a formidable foe that cut a dashing figure with his beard and accent. In 1989, Al became first person to ever run 1300 miles in a certified race when he won the Sri Chinmoy 1300 Mile Race. In 1991 he returned after running across Canada that summer in 72 days (averaging 63 miles a day over mountains and prairies), breaking his own 1300 mile record by several hours. In the following article, Arpan De Angelo reminisces about his long-time friend:

One night as I sat eating in Annam Brahma Restaurant in Queens, New York, a familiar figure walked in. It was Al Howie, bags in tow, looking like he was travel-weary and hungry. I had not seen Al since we ran in a Sri Chinmoy 24 hour race in Ottawa six years ago. Now he was here to run 1,300 miles in the Ultra Trio. I greeted Al and invited him to sit down and eat.

During dinner, I was inspired by his friendly manner and courage. He had just travelled four days by bus from Vancouver Island to get here and was determined to become the first runner in history to complete 1,300 miles in a certified race. His enthusiasm was contagious, and I decided to help Al in any way I could. I invited him to stay at my place for the three days before the race was to start. This gave me an opportunity to get to know one of the greatest ultra runners of all time.

Photo: Al Howie (l) became the first runner to complete the 1,300 mile distance. Stefan Schlett (r) also completed the distance.

The following day I participated in the Sri Chinmoy 24 Hour TAC/USA National Championship in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Al offered to be my handler. This was probably the first 24 hour race that Al attended as a volunteer instead of a runner. He had run in about 20 such races, winning most of them, usually with 140-150 miles. At the time, he also held the current 24 hour record (150.2 miles) for both Scottish citizens and Canadian residents. Although I had placed second in this race last year with 130 miles, I had to drop out at 92 miles because of an unexplainable dizziness and leg cramps. Anyway, Al stayed on, assisting throughout the night in whatever capacity he was needed. He was inspired by the intensity of Ann Trason’s great performance – a woman’s world record for 100 miles (13:55:02) and winning the race overall with 143 miles. Helping around the clock in the 24 hour primed him for the incredible challenge he was about to undertake.

Al was no stranger to the flat, fast one mile loop in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. He won the Sri Chinmoy Seven Day here last May in his first multi-day race. In fact, Al won every race he ran this year, including a 12 hour August 13 in Victoria, B.C. (82+ miles), a 50 mile June 10 on Vancouver Island in a ‘slow’ 6 hours and 30 minutes, and finally the seven day in May here in New York City.

Besides those performances, he told me how he had intensified his training, averaging 160 miles or more per week for most of the year in preparation for the 1,300 mile. Also, he started weight training for both upper body and legs, about one and a half hours every other day. On those days he would only run 15 miles; on the days between he would run 30 miles.

At age 44, he was in the best physical condition of his life.

Photo: Al Howie takes a short food break with his friend Arpan DeAngelo.

On September 18th Al and ten other intrepid runners, including one woman, started their first steps on the long 1,300 mile journey. Al ran 113 miles the first day comfortably, but had a more conservative strategy for the remainder of the race. His schedule would be to average just over 70 miles a day after that. He soon discovered that walking some sections of every loop helped him to maintain his energy and strength through the long days and nights. He took meal breaks three times a day, usually for a half hour or less, but enjoying big meals with plenty of high carbohydrate and nutritional foods. He would also take small snacks regularly throughout the day and night. Water was his main drink but he also had electrolyte replacement drinks and an occasional coffee. He slept three hours every night, usually from around 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. In the daytime he would put his feet up or even lie down for a short time when feeling a bit road weary.

Al was a self-sufficient runner who never complained or demanded too much from anyone. It impressed me the way he maintained a positive mental attitude no matter how tired. He was friendly to the other runners and seemed to draw positive energy from them. I thought this was a great factor in his favor along with the awesome physical condition that he was in. Day by day he kept faithfully to his schedule. He completed 573 miles in the first week, 62 miles more than his winning effort in the seven day race in May.

Although Al ran just as intensely the second week as the first, he still took time to be civil and friendly. He was working hard in this race, leading from the first mile to the last, yet like the legendary baseball player Joe DiMaggio, he made it look so easy. He seemed to have the knack of keeping his energy level high throughout the long days and even longer nights.

At 13 days +00:27:37 he completed 1,000 miles, making him the fourth fastest in the world at the distance. Prior to this, Al’s longest distance had been 876 miles in 11 days +03:18:00 on a solo journey run the length of Britain, the best time for that course. Another mark that he held that that time was nonstop running – 361 miles (580 km) with only five minutes rest allowed per hour. But now he was on his way to an uninhabited realm. After 13 days of hard running, he still had 300 more miles to cover before the 18 day cut-off.

Al approached the third and final week cautiously. Realizing he was becoming tired much earlier in the day than before, he increased his sleep time to four hours per night. He took more short breaks during the day, but still maintained around 70 miles per day. He was now paying closer attention to the condition of his feet, which had developed a few small blisters. On the fifteenth day, with less than 150 miles to go, he discovered that his right calf was much larger than his left. The medical staff determined that it was just a strange case of fluid retention, as there was no pain or injury related to the swelling. Keeping it wrapped, icing it occasionally, and being very cautious about any other unexpected surprises that could stop him dead in his tracks, Al carried on his mission cheerfully and courageously. The swelling went down.

Finally, to the cheers and hurrahs of the assembled crowd, carrying the Canadian flag and the Scottish lion-rampant battle flag, with his beard and long golden hair flowing – Al finished the 1,300 miles in 17 days +08:25:34, becoming the first person ever to go that distance under certified race conditions.

Three years ago, when Sri Chinmoy stipulated an 18 day cutoff for 1,300 miles, some of us felt that it was not enough time, that no one except perhaps Yiannis Kouros would be able to do it. Sri Chinmoy felt the challenge would inspire runners to transcend themselves. This year three did. At the awards ceremony Al paid tribute to a man with the vision, concern and inspiration to put on such races. He said: ‘Finishing this race was the greatest moment of my life. I’m not a disciple of his, but I am dedicating this race to Sri Chinmoy.’

These results are incredible and may stand for some time. But the most amazing thing for me and many other people who supported Al in his victory was the fact that this friendly, keen-witted Scotsman accomplished a previously impossible endurance feat with considerable grace and poise. This was testimony to the true stature of Al Howie, who has established himself as one of the greatest ultra distance runners of all time.

Excerpted from the article in Ultrarunning, December 1989 “Canadian Al Howie – A Multi-Day Ultra Champion.” Ultrarunning. December 1989. Reprinted with permission from the publisher.

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An interview with our eleven-time Channel swimmer, Karteek Clarke

About the author:

Nirbhasa is originally from Ireland but currently lives in Reykjavik, Iceland. He is an enthusiastic multi-day runner, having twice completed both the Ten Day Race and the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race - the longest race in the world.

Hiyamallar Shalom spent a few days with our eleven-time Channel Swimmer Karteek Clarke in his Edinburgh home, and pressed him for a few stories about his Channel swimming feats:

Picture this: it is a beautiful summer morning, and you are awakened by the sound of Bach being played on the violin as the sun splashes through the windows of your room in a lovely tree-lined city with almost fairytale architecture...idyllic, perhaps. On the other hand, you are crazy cold, hugging your blanket, because this is Edinburgh, a city which has no decent respect for the seasons, and your flatmate has already a) gotten up b) gone to the Commonwealth Pool (in the early morning!) and c) swum laps for hours. So begins another day in Scotland in the flat of Karteek Clarke, swimmer extraordinaire.

While I was staying in Endinburgh with Karteek, I was able to have my ever-modest, if not self-effacing friend, talk about some aspects of his swimming not found elsewhere. I began by asking how he got the initial inspiration to take up long-distance swimming.

In 1994, after reading some of the thrilling adventures of our earlier Channel swimmers, Karteek had the idea that he might like to try doing this. However, unlike most people (such as 99.99% of us), he went down to Dover shortly after and spent only a few weeks swimming in the harbor, perhaps doing one six-hour swim, his longest swim ever up to that time! (to put this in perspective, he routinely does two back-to-back days of six hours each for his crossings these days)

Three weeks later he attempted his first Channel swim, and achieved an incredible twelve hours in his first experience of swimming in open water, before his inexperience and relative lack of training led to an end of that try. The following year, after having had more time to prepare, he was fully trained and ready to go, but one hour prior to the scheduled departure of his boat, the weather turned and he lost his spot. Due to other commitments, he was unable to stick around and try again.

Finally, in 1997 he had his breakthrough first successful Channel crossing, which he describes as a "long hard swim" that took 11 hours and 57 minutes. That August, he vistied Sri Chinmoy in New York, and recieved his spiritual name, Karteek, the basic meaning being that of the "Divine warrior", who "places his teeming victories at the feet of the Lord Supreme".

In 1999 Karteek successfully entered and completed the Lake Zürich 26-km race put on by the Swiss Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team. He had an excellent experience, and this reenergized his swimming. Thus inspired, he wondered if he could repeat his earlier crossing and decided to give it another go in 2000. What followed was one of his most difficult races, in windy conditions and with the development of sea sickness, which took him over fifteen hours to complete!

At point afterwards, Sri Chinmoy called and asked Karteek how many times he had swum the Channel. When he was told that he had done it twice, he asked Karteek to swim the Channel two more times. Karteek agreed readily and proceeded to do just that, undergoing adverse conditions and having difficult crossings on each occasion. After four successful crossings, Sri Chinmoy again called and this time told Karteek that he should swim the Channel three more times!

In reminiscing about these phone calls, Karteek remembers that while outwardly at times he might wonder what the point would be in repeating the swim, in each case Sri Chinmoy acted as the “perfect psychologist” as he puts it. To quote Karteek, he “picked up on my wish” to keep challenging himself, and his request came at just the right moment each time. On every occasion he was asked to swim the Channel, he had the feeling of intense joy, adding that he never felt forced to do this event, recognizing that Sri Chinmoy was confirming what he already felt - despite the fact that the fifth, sixth, seventh (and even the eighth) crossings were all accomplished under difficult conditions and took over sixteen hours! Sri Chinmoy told him that while patience was needed to do long distance swimming, “you also need to develop speed,” as “speed is determination”.

Now that Sri Chinmoy is no longer with us physically, Karteek still feels an inner urge to continue his Channel swimming; he has completed eleven at the time of writing.